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Video:How to Use a Crankbait

Crankbaits are an integral aspect of fishing if you want a large catch. In this About.com video, learn the many different Crankbait styles that exist, and how to use them.See Transcript

Transcript:How to Use a Crankbait

Hi, I'm Todd Larson and I am here with About.com and today we are going to learn how to fish with Crankbaits.

Fishing with Crankbaits is simple; the bait creates its own action. All you have to do is cast it out and retrieve it back to you.

How to Use a Crankbait

Here we have a Crankbait and it mimics a minnow or shad. You can see it looks like a small fish, bait fish. These are used for mostly catching bass and pike, freshwater. You throw it out, some of them float and some of them sink but either way this lip is going to catch the water when you bring it to retrieve. It's going to dive down from anywhere from a foot underwater to over 12 foot under water.

Crankbait Styles

Crankbaits come in a number of different styles, this is a deep diver. Most of these float on the surface of the water until they are retrieved. They have this big lip and these are going to dive the deepest. If you are going to go for fish at a deeper depth you are going to want to go with something like this.

This is also a Crankbait and it has a smaller lip on it so it's not going to go as deep. You can look at the distinct difference. This is only going to go about two feet underwater depending on how you retrieve it. You can also fish it on the surface because it floats. So essentially it's a crankbait but classified as wake bait as well.

Here we have another style of crankbait, it's a floating Rapala. It mimics a minnow in this case it's a baby pike so it's very realistic. They come in multiple colors this one is going to be a floating one. If you notice the small bill it's only going to dive down about four feet under water.

We have a jointed Crankbait here. The body is joined so you get will a lot more action on the retrieval.

This is a Rattle Trap. It's considered a lipless Crankbait. The difference is there is no built in bill it's just a flat surface. These are usually filled with lead weights that are used for weight and also to create vibration and sound in the water. These are great because they don't get caught up in weeds. If you look at how dynamic the shape is, you can burn them through weed cover and that's when you are going to get a lot of your strikes.

Thanks for watching, for more fishing tips and techniques please visit About.com.

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